Moon River
by Eve Davidson
Summary: Johnny gets very serious with a girl. Ponyboy's point of view.
1. Default Chapter

There was a girl hanging around Johnny. I wasn't quite sure who she was, but I did know she went to our school.

We were just hanging out, we'd come from the DX where we'd bummed pop and cigarettes offa Soda and Steve. Thought we might play some football if we could find a few more guys. Johnny was gripping the football like he'd seen guys on T.V. do it.

"Johnny, they only do it like that on T.V.," He kind of sucked at football. That was okay. So did I. Running was more my thing.

He gave me a look.

"Pony, why do you think they do it that way? That's how you're supposed to,"

I shrugged, let him think what he wanted to. Then I noticed her, the girl from school. She was over on the sidewalk near the fence, and even from here I could tell she was watchin' Johnny. She had on a powder blue sweater and a nice skirt with pleats. Her hair was real dark, almost as dark as Johnny's.

"Uh, Johnny?"

"Yeah?" He threw the football. It went farther than I thought it would.

"Who's that girl?"

"What girl?"

I pointed, and his eyes followed my finger until they rested on the girl in the powder blue sweater. He ducked his head, mumbled something.

"What?"

"I said her name's Emily,"

As I lived and breathed I'd swear Johnny was blushing. His cheeks were getting redder by the minute.

"Emily? I take it you know this girl?"

"Yeah," His voice took on that huskier quality it did when girls were concerned. I wanted to laugh at him but I didn't.

"So go talk to her!" I shoved him in that direction and he headed over. I trotted after the football and came back to where I was to watch.

I watched him duck his head, say something. I watched her tuck a lock of his hair behind his ear. Watched him smile.

I ain't all that interested in girls yet. Soda says I'll grow out of it. But Johnny's been interested in girls for awhile and there's quite a few interested in him.

This girl, Emily, she's richer than us but she ain't a soc. It ain't unusual for girls like her to hang around. You should see the DX, they're on Soda like flies on shit. Socs, too. But that's Soda. He looks like a movie star. Johnny don't. Johnny looks like a whipped puppy to me but some girls like that, like Florence Nightingale type thing.

I watched Emily lean her head on Johnny's shoulder for a moment, then touch his hair again, then she walked away. Johnny came back slowly.

I knew I was kind of scowling, and I shouldn't of been mad at Johnny cause he's interested in girls and I'm not, and just cause she took time away from our football game, well that ain't Johnny's fault.

"So?" I said, trying to be civil.

"So what?"

I sighed. I wasn't in the mood for Johnny's brand of playing dumb.

"So are you going on a date or something or what?" I lived with Sodapop Curtis. Even from a distance I could tell when a girl gets a guy to ask her on a date.

"Yeah," and he smiled, a dreamy kind of smile, and I stopped scowling. It was good to see Johnny smile about something.


	2. 2

"Ponyboy, what's the matter?"

"Nothin'," I mumbled. Soda looked at me skeptically.

"Nothing's wrong?"

I was moping, sitting all hunched down in the couch.

"You sure it doesn't have anything to do with Johnny being on a date?"

Damn Soda.

"Yes, I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with Johnny being on a date,"

Maybe it did. I guess it had to do with that. It wasn't that I was jealous of him, exactly. I just wished he was hanging out with me instead of her.

"Where'd they go, anyway?" Soda shouted to me as he dug through the refrigerator and cabinets for food.

"Movies, I guess,"

"Aw, cheer up, Ponyboy. It ain't the end of the world,"

All week I'd watched her hang around at his locker, sit with him at lunch. I knew he was getting serious about this girl. I could see it in his eyes.

…………………x…………………..x………………………….x

Next morning Johnny stopped over. It was Saturday.

"Hey, kid, how was the date?" Soda said, ruffling his hair. Johnny jerked away but he smiled.

"Good," he said softly.

"Date?" Darry said, tucking his shirt in. He'd just come from the bedroom.

"Yeah, Johnny had a date," Soda said in that same sing song way he uses with me.

Outside, away from everybody else, I handed Johnny a cigarette. He lit it.

"I don't think it's a good idea, you dating Emily,"

"Why not?" Johnny was close to looking hurt.

"Because, Johnny, think about it! She's rich, she's…"

"She ain't rich,"

"She is, too. She's rich and it just isn't a good idea,"

"You don't even know her," he said, looking at me with that sad look.

"I don't have to know her to know this ain't a good idea,"

"I'll bring you to meet her," he said, excited, "c'mon,"

"What, now?"

"Yeah. She said I can come over anytime," He started walking and I ran a little to catch up.

"I'm sure her parents will love that," I said.

"Shut up,"

………………………x………………….x…………………..x

"I don't know, Johnny," We stood on the sidewalk by her house. The house was big. A hell of a lot nicer than our houses.

"C'mon," he said, and walked toward the door.

I was never more conscious of looking like a hood than when I was meeting some rich girl's parents.

"Yes?" Her mom came to the door and looked at us with alarm. My face went red. Johnny cleared his throat.

"Is, uh, is Emily here?" he said.

"Wait here, I'll get her," She closed the screen door but left the other door open. Disappeared inside the house.

"She didn't even invite us in," I hissed to Johnny.

"Shut up," he hissed back.

"I told you this was a bad idea,"

"Why are you being a jerk?" he said, glaring at me. I shrugged.

"Hi, Johnny," Emily had come to the door, beamed at him. She glanced at me, "hi," she said.

She opened the door wide.

"Want to come in?" We nodded and followed her into the house.


	3. 3

She got us sodas with ice in nice glasses, and we sat on the couch. From the corner of my eye I saw her mom in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, frowning. And Johnny was oblivious.

"So, um, how'd you meet Johnny?" I said wildly, just to be saying something. I noticed the thick beige rug that covered the floor and the stairs, how clean it looked. The grandfather clock, the wood dark and gleaming, the heavy hands ticking off the seconds.

"In school," Vague. Judging by her neat clothes and cultured voice she probably wasn't in any of the remedial courses they stuck Johnny in.

"We're in the same math class," she continued. My eyes widened. I knew that Johnny sucked in math, he just couldn't get it. He never remembered the multiplication tables, he barely knew how to do long division. I'd spent enough afternoons trying to explain that shit to him.

"Oh," I said, and her eyes flicked past me to Johnny, she smiled so sweetly at him, and I still felt her mom hovering between the rooms.

……………………..X…………………x………..x…………………x

"Well?" We walked along, smoking, kicking at stones and tiny bits of broken bottles, some clear, some green.

"Well what?" I said, and took a deep drag of my cigarette. I knew he wanted to know what I thought of Emily, but figured I'd let him sweat it out a little.

"Well what do you think of her?"

I was thinking quite a bit. I thought she was real pretty, real classy, and Johnny was my friend and all but I was surprised she seemed to like him as much as she did. He was a greaser. I mean, we weren't exactly the best choice to bring home to mom.

And she seemed smart to me, school smart but she couldn't be, not if she was in that math class with Johnny. It was weird.

"She's nice," I conceded, and Johnny smiled, flipped his hair out of his eyes.

"It still don't make it a good idea,"

………………x………………x………………….x……………………….x

"Want a beer, kid?" Two bit offered me one of the cans of beer he concealed in his coat and I refused.

"Pepsi's fine," We were at the Dingo and Two bit was nearly drunk, staggering and slurring words, but I didn't care. I didn't feel like spending another weekend alone.

"Where's old Johnnycakes?" he said, setting my pepsi in front of me without spilling too much of it.

"A date," I sighed, sipped on the pepsi, happy at the sugary syrupy taste of it. Cigarettes and pepsi were nature's perfect creations.

"Again?" It had not escaped the gang's notice that Johnny was with this girl every minute he could be. And I was trying hard to be happy for him, she seemed like a nice enough girl.

"Two bit?"

"Yeah?"

"I changed my mind. I'll have a beer," He grinned at me and tossed me one. I popped the top and took a swig.


	4. Chapter 4

I'd adjusted, somewhat, to seeing less of Johnny. Sometimes I'd hang out with him and Emily but usually not. I'd get that third wheel feeling, a tag along.

"You gotta get a girlfriend, Pony," Soda said one night. Steve and Evie and Sandy were due over any time.

"Yeah," I sighed, flipped aimlessly through the channels, settled on some dumb game show.

It was Friday just after supper, no reason why I wasn't going out, doing something at least.

Johnny'd been with the girl for two, two and a half months. Every weekend, most days after school. It didn't seem normal to be so jealous, and I kind of hated myself for feeling that way.

"Pony, come out with us," Soda said generously, favoring me with his mega whatt super star grin. I shook my head no. Steve wouldn't like that too much and neither would the girls, and I didn't feel like it anyways.

The screen door did its double bang because someone came in. I didn't even look up, expecting it to be Steve.

"You okay?" Soda said in his worried way. I looked up from the T.V. and it was Johnny, not Steve, and he didn't look okay.

"Yeah," he said in this shaky voice, and his eyes were round. I looked at him, trying to guess what was wrong. It could be anything. School, his parents, Emily.

He sat on the couch, nodded at me, and started watching the game show. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes, ran his finger over the logo, then tapped one out. Dug around for matches in every damn pocket he had. I tossed him a lighter.

"Thanks," he said. Lit the cigarette, his hands trembling slightly. I regarded him with a sideways glance. He didn't look hurt so whatever was wrong it wasn't his old man. Maybe his mom had screamed at him, but I didn't think so.

I wanted to ask what was wrong but he wouldn't say until he was ready, so I didn't bother. Soda started really getting ready for the date, shaving and slapping on cologne. Came back into the living room and got me in a headlock.

"Say uncle!" he said. I struggled, couldn't get free.

"Get offa me!"

"Say uncle!"

"Uncle damnit! Freak!"

He let me up, smiling. Johnny had put out his cigarette and eyed Soda warily. He knew he was next. Soda grabbed him in a headlock, knocking him off the couch.

"Soda, God!"

"Uncle! Say it! Say it!"

Soda was a spaz.

"Alright! Uncle! Christ!"

He let Johnny up and he shook his long black hair out of his face, but it just fell right back. I lit a cigarette and puffed away, wondered where Emily was.

Steve and Evie and Sandy showed up, the girls smiling at me and Johnny, Steve giving me a dirty look. I rolled my eyes.

"See ya, Pony. Bye, Johnny," Soda said, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door.

"Whattya want to do?" I said, flipping through the channels. New, fuzz, news, variety show.

x……..x…….x……….x

He'd been moping all night. I'd never seen him quite like this. Upset about shit, yeah. But this type of dazed sadness, it was all about a girl.

He'd smoked nearly a whole pack and when he found his pack was empty he balled it in his fist and threw it, and for a second there was such a look of dark anger on his face that I was almost scared.

We were just walking down the street past the drug stores and pet stores, pool halls and bars. Neon lights flashing around us, cars gliding by nice and easy.

"Here," I said, holding out a cigarette. The angry look had gone as quick as it had come and he smiled, a sad little smile.

"Thanks,"

I couldn't take it anymore.

"What is wrong?" I said, stopping, grabbing his arm and kind of turning him toward me.

"Huh? What is it?" I said.


	5. Chapter 5

Johnny didn't shrug out of my grasp, he just let me hold onto his arm and demand to know what was wrong. This was a new kind of wrong for Johnny, though. His wrongs before had all been about being hurt, either physically or emotionally or both. Maybe he was hurt, maybe Emily had broke up with him or something. But it was kind of like, that stuff was sort of supposed to happen. Not like the whole thing with his parents letting him down in some way over and over. Girls were supposed to end up hurting you somehow. You'd end up broken up with everyone you didn't end up marrying.

"She's pregnant," Johnny said, his voice that funny deep thick way it got when he was really upset. I didn't think I'd heard right. Pregnant? By Johnny? My jaw dropped open and I just stared at him.

"What? Is it, is it yours?" I said.

"Yeah," he said, real quiet, and now he did pull out of my grasp. My mouth was still open. I couldn't believe it. Pregnant? Johnny was going to be a father? How could that possibly be? He, he was like a baby, he could barely take care of himself, or at least that's how Johnny always seemed to me, to us, to all of us. He was everyone's kid brother, not someone who could be someone's father.

"What are you gonna do?" I said. I was in this daze of disbelief. Her parents would kill him. They would kill him.

"I don't know," he said bleakly, and I thought how stupid could he be, getting someone pregnant?

We walked along, neither of us saying much. I was too surprised to speak. Pregnant? This was unbelievable.

"Do her parents know?" I said. He shook his head no. I thought that was a good thing for now. And he better not tell his parents. His old man would beat him for sure, and I thought this time he might deserve it.

We stopped and sat on a curb and smoked, and he was worrying, just smoking and worrying, I could see it on his face. I felt bad for him.

"How could you do this? How could you let this happen?" I said, tossing my cigarette butt into the air. He shrugged and wasn't going to answer. I didn't feel like letting him not answer.

"Johnny, answer me, you gotta think about this. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know, Ponyboy," he said, his voice miserable, "what can I do? Her folks will either send her away or make her get rid of it or both. It's not like I have much say in this at all,"

I nodded. He was right. Sometimes he was smarter than I gave him credit for. And I knew because of his lousy upbringing that he kind of would want this kid, he'd want someone that he could treat better than he was treated. And it seemed like Johnny would be good to a kid, not that he could provide for it at all, he didn't have a job and he was flunking out of school pretty much, but if he could help her raise this baby I thought he might be okay at it. Too bad he wouldn't get the chance.

"Want to come to my house tonight?" I said, figuring it would be better for him to be around us instead of moping at his house. It didn't take much for his folks to start in on him, even a scowl on his face was sometimes enough.

"Yeah, alright," he said, lighting up another cigarette. I lit one up, too, and we headed to my house.

I didn't know if he wanted to tell everyone about this, but I certainly wasn't going to tell anyone. It was too unbelievable. No one would even believe me if I did tell them. I'd had to drag it out of him, anyway. No, he wouldn't tell anyone else, probably.


End file.
